Hi SupTech Community,
Welcome to the 39th issue of the Cambridge SupTech Lab bi-weekly LinkedIn newsletter, a source for updates on recent innovations, breakthroughs, opportunities, upcoming events in the suptech field, and news from the Cambridge SupTech Lab team.
If you would like to flag any items for inclusion in the next newsletter, please email us at cambridgesuptechlab@jbs.cam.ac.uk. Occasionally, we email our global community of supervisors, data scientists, vendors, and suptech experts to share event invites, news, or new courses—subscribe here.
This edition includes news from the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, Bank for International Settlements, Bank of England, Central Banking, European Central Bank, FNA, Global Government Fintech, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, International Association of Insurance Supervisors, Network for Greening the Financial System, Securities Commission Malaysia, South African Reserve Bank, and others.
Suptech Innovations
European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) digital transformation delivers major benefits to banking supervision. The ECB has revolutionised banking supervision through advanced digital platforms and artificial intelligence (AI) tools, according to Frederik Hoppe. Key systems including the IMAS portal, CASPER and STAR have streamlined bank-supervisor interaction, while AI applications like Heimdall have reduced fit and proper assessment times from 109 days in 2023 to 97 days in 2024. Specialised applications including OSICredit, Agora, Navi and Delphi enhance efficiency, reduce costs and enable earlier risk detection. Robotic process automation now completes routine tasks up to 15 times faster than manual processes, and text analysis tool Athena accelerates document review. As European banking supervision continues to innovate and to integrate new technologies, efficiency, transparency and adaptability will increase. Read more here.
Central Banking & Technology
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) successfully test tokenised central bank operations prototype. Known as Project Pine, the joint study demonstrated that central banks could implement monetary policy in tokenised wholesale financial markets using programmable smart contracts. The prototype toolkit, adaptable across jurisdictions, successfully performed essential functions including interest payments, open market operations and collateral management during ten simulated market scenarios. The system responded instantaneously to changing conditions while maintaining desired liquidity environments. Researchers identified areas related to interoperability and data standardisation for future exploration. Read more here.
Suptech vendor, FNA, secures Gates Foundation grant to develop cloud-based fraud portal solution. FNA has received a USD 2.9 million to develop a cloud-based “Fraud Portal as a Service” solution, modelled on Malaysia’s successful system launched in April 2024. The portal enables banks, law enforcement and regulators to collaborate on real-time tracking of fraudulent funds, improving mule account identification through Graph AI deployed across payment networks. Already in production with two countries with implementations underway in two more, the cloud version aims to accelerate adoption in low and middle-income countries by reducing technical dependencies while maintaining capabilities for fund recovery and victim protection. Read more here.
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) plans live testing service to accelerate safe AI deployment in finance. The FCA is launching a live AI testing service enabling firms to collaborate with regulators while validating their consumer or market-facing AI models. Set to begin in September 2025 for 12-18 months, the service would be a new component of the FCA AI Lab and addresses a testing gap hindering AI adoption in finance. This initiative aligns with the regulator’s new 5-year strategy emphasising tech-positive approaches to support innovation and United Kingdom (UK) financial services competitiveness. Feedback on the proposal is invited until 10 June 2025. Read more here.
Bank of England (BoE) launches artificial intelligence consortium to explore financial services applications. The BoE has established an AI Consortium as a public-private engagement platform to examine AI applications in UK financial services. Co-chaired by senior officials from the BoE and FCA, the 28-member group includes representatives from established financial institutions, technology companies, fintechs and universities who will meet quarterly to discuss AI capabilities, benefits and risks. The consortium, officially launched on 2 May following its announcement last September, aims to identify current and potential AI uses in finance, assess associated challenges, and inform the regulators’ approach to promoting safe AI adoption while addressing concerns such as algorithmic bias and data misuse. Read more here.
European Central Bank (ECB) highlights tech advances and supervision reforms in May supervision newsletter. The ECB’s May 2025 Supervision Newsletter features technology transformation in banking oversight alongside the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process reform (SREP) focusing on efficiency through prioritisation of severe findings. The publication also covers enhanced internal capital assessment processes, record sovereign exposures reaching €3.13 trillion, and growing profitability among smaller banks. The newsletter includes a calendar of upcoming presentations by supervisory board members at financial sector conferences through July. Read more here.
BIS Innovation Hub advances project Aurora to transform financial crime prevention. Project Aurora is pioneering data-driven approaches to combat financial crime through AI, privacy technologies and network analysis. Following positive reception of Phase 1, BIS Innovation Hub’s head of Nordics, Beju Shah, reports that phase 2 will address synthetic identities while emphasising AI transparency. The initiative will engage financial institutions and public agencies before consulting technology experts. Despite progress in national solutions, Shah notes that effective cross-border strategies remain challenging and warns of “proof-of-concept fatigue”, urging clearer objectives to make innovation efforts more impactful and actionable. Read more here.
Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) proposes framework for tokenised capital market products. The SC has published a consultation paper on regulating tokenised shares, bonds and funds. The proposed framework aims to enable exploration of programmable assets and fractional ownership while maintaining investor protections. Though leveraging distributed ledger technology, these digital representations will be regulated consistently with conventional securities. The SC is seeking stakeholder feedback until 16 June 2025, encouraging market participants to discuss their plans directly with the regulator. Read more here.
Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) unveils short-term climate scenarios for financial regulators. The NGFS has released pioneering short-term climate scenarios for central banks and supervisors to assess immediate climate-related financial risks. The framework, focused on a five-year horizon, explores four scenarios ranging from regional weather disasters to transition challenges and combined risks. Key findings show that extreme weather events cause temporary but material GDP losses globally, while delayed climate action significantly increases transition costs and financial stress. Released on 7th May, this represents the first publicly available tool specifically designed for analysing near-term climate impacts on financial stability. Read more here.
ECB partners with private sector through digital euro innovation platform. The ECB has established an innovation platform to collaborate with European stakeholders in the context of the digital euro project. Almost 70 market participants have signed up to work with the ECB to explore digital euro payment functionalities and use cases. The initiative comprises two workstreams: “pioneers” investigating conditional payment implementation and developing everyday payment use cases, and “visionaries” researching solutions for societal challenges such as digital financial inclusion. The platform simulates the envisaged digital euro ecosystem where the ECB provides technical infrastructure for European intermediaries to develop innovative payment features. Read more here.
Mojaloop Foundation launches partner programme to advance global financial inclusion. Following implementations across Africa and Asia, the Mojaloop Foundation has established a global initiative with AfricaNenda, FNA, GLEIF and MOSIP as inaugural partners. The programme will develop interoperable financial tools, promote digital public infrastructure, and explore emerging technologies like stablecoins and AI. Key collaborations include FNA’s National Fraud Portals, GLEIF’s Legal Entity Identifiers for payment routing, and MOSIP’s work connecting digital identity with payment systems, all aimed at accelerating financial inclusion for unbanked populations. Read more here.
UK’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) seeks strategic open banking partner for Universal Credit delivery. The DWP has launched a procurement process to find a strategic supplier of open banking technology for its Universal Credit programme, which supports 7.5 million recipients across Britain. Building on last year’s proof-of-concept trial with fintech company Ecospend, the department is now utilising the Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS’s) Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System to advance its implementation. The tender notice was shared with companies registered on CCS’s Dynamic Purchasing System. Read more here.
Events
International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) to host 2025 global seminar as virtual event in July. The IAIS will hold its 2025 Global Seminar as a virtual event spanning three days from 8-10 July. Each day will feature a two-hour session beginning at 13:00 CEST, providing participants an opportunity to engage with IAIS leadership and industry stakeholders on pressing issues facing insurance supervision. The online format will enable global participation in discussions addressing current regulatory challenges and emerging trends in the insurance sector. Read more here.
BIS and South African Reserve Bank (SARB) launch G20 techsprint for open finance trust solutions. The BIS and SARB have announced the sixth G20 techsprint competition, challenging global innovators to develop solutions promoting integrity and trust in finance. This year’s competition focuses on three key areas: verifiable digital identity technologies, consumer-consented credit data portability for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and fraud and cyber risk mitigation in fast payment systems. Open to developers worldwide until 20 June, the initiative offers USD 30,000 prizes for winning solutions in each category, with winners to be announced in November. Read more here.
Central Banking Summer Meetings to explore financial stability challenges in London. Central Banking’s flagship Summer Meetings will convene global central bankers in London on 11-12 June to discuss navigating financial stability in an era of shifting narratives. The gathering will feature six discussion tracks covering innovation and AI, payments and data, suptech and regtech, monetary policy, reserve and risk management, and future ready reserve management. The programme includes networking opportunities and expert discussions, culminating in the prestigious Central Banking Awards ceremony celebrating excellence across the profession following the first day of proceedings. Read more here.
Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR) to host “Battlefront: Fraud in the Age of AI” simulation event in Washington DC. The interactive simulation addressing AI-enabled fraud will run from 23-24 June 2025 in Washington, D.C. Participants from financial institutions, regulators, academia and technology firms will form cross-disciplinary teams to develop AI-powered fraud schemes and defensive countermeasures. The immersive event will tackle real-world challenges including deepfake scams, synthetic identities, social engineering attacks and agentive AI responses. Applications close 31 May, with observer registration opening 27 May for those wishing to witness the final demonstrations. Read more and register here.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) launches 2025 Green Fintech Competition to drive sustainable innovation in finance. Co-hosted with the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers and supported by several prominent technology and investment organisations, this competition focuses on five key themes: sustainable supply chain and SMEs, climate risk modelling, carbon market analytics, sustainable investing, and sustainable banking products. Building on the success of the 2023 edition, the competition aims to foster collaboration between finance and technology sectors while attracting green fintech firms to Hong Kong. Companies worldwide can submit solutions by 6 June, with winning solutions to be showcased at the Green Fintech Symposium on 12 September during Hong Kong Green Week. Read more here.
